Batman graduated from puppy class on Tuesday! Here he is, showing off his certificate of achievement:
Our class had 8 puppies enrolled — for our final meeting, we played games and competed for prizes to see which puppy performed the commands best.
Batman and I were not having the greatest night, and we didn’t win anything. We also finished dead last in the timed command course, which consisted of 6 different stations. To be fair, 2 stations were “puppy push-ups” (sit, down, sit), which I don’t teach because I don’t like sloppy downs (Batty is only reinforced for downs from a stand). He also got distracted by a terrier during the recall, which is usually child’s play for him.
I’m naturally a competitive person, but I put that on the shelf with my dog. Whenever I felt the slightest bit frustrated, I reminded myself, “I’m not taking this class to impress a bunch of strangers, I’m here to bond with my awesome dog.” That improved my attitude immediately, and reminded me how silly we humans can be. It’s a good thing to remember.
Batman excelled at the very last event, where we showed off tricks. I didn’t do a trick, exactly, I just showed the class how we played with his yellow ball on a rope, and did a nice fuss (formal heel) with him. Everyone was impressed. Also, I think we freaked out some of the pet owners with the amount of drive Batman showed in his tug — Syd (aka Alta-Tollhaus Prada) would have been proud!
Last night, we went to our first intermediate obedience CGC class, which is a much more advanced class with older dogs, at a new facility. He did awesome! He was such a star. Everyone oohed and ahhed over him (my favorite was when one of the trainers came over to work with us and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! Those ears! They’re even bigger up-close!” LOL.)
The trainers said that they were testing how advanced the dogs in the class were, beginning with how well they could pay attention in a distracting environment. She pointed out the three dogs in the class that showed they were paying attention to their owners (betcha know where this is going): the trainer’s demo dog, a super vigilant Aussie next to us, and Batman, who was in a down on his mat, gazing up at me with his best “Can I have my treat now?” face for most of the class.
They asked how old he was, and I said 6 months (he will be next week), and there were audible gasps around the room. “He’s just a BABY!” the trainer said. I laughed and said, yes, he is a baby — a 60 lb baby, but a baby nonetheless.
They then tested which dogs could do a sit and a down using hand signals only, and then using verbals only. I wasn’t sure if Batty would do it because I usually mess up and do a double cue, and we were in a distracting new place. Well, I should really have more faith in my dog because he did all four commands perfectly on the first try!
The trainer complimented me on how good he was, and said he was very intelligent to be at this level at 6-months-old. Batman looked at us, like, “Whaaa? I just want that chicken liver!”
Thank you, Julie (and “grandma” Lorie!), for blessing me with such a sound puppy! And thank you, Carole and the Camp Kayla crew for teaching him such nice manners so early. We are working hard to build on all of your work!
Hi JK!
Thank you for sharing our experience. I especially like how you kept your goal in mind and did not let the little bumps on your path jar you from your goal. There will be those moments like the terrier distraction on the recall, and you like you did you just work through it. Good work, both of you!
I love reading about you and Batman!
Julie
Congratulations to you and Batman!
Congrats Jennie and Batman!! He looks so proud next to his certificate, I love Batman so much!!
Yay Batman!! So proud of you two!
U-Rock and I are so proud of you two. The U-litter is “kicking butt” with certificates this month. I love his look in that picture: “what the big deal mom… wait until I grow up & bring you the trophies and the money…” LOL
Good luck in your CGC class… U-Rock is following in Batman’s steps.
The reason this dog is so rock solid is because you let nothing bug you. You keep focused no matter what and so does Batman. Batman’s smile is great – like a kid when mom posts the A+ test on the refrigerator.
Thanks, Carole! It’s hard to let anything bug me when Batman is good enough to put up with all my mistakes and keep that big goofy grin on his face.
Congrats! He looks so proud of himself!
Way to go Batman.
Thanks for sharing your story Jennie. Have fun in your new class. Batman will show them all how it is done!